Hearing Voices
by PlainOldJane
Summary: A tale of the first time Steve heard Jarvis. Suddenly, he felt quite old. Technology might just be the end of him. Set right after the movie.


A/N: I got a little plot bunny to write this, to take a break from writing Iridescent and give another character a try. Hope you enjoy reading it as much as I did writing it!

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The soldier out of time. A new phrase that was often used to described him, though it was quite the opposite; he had been given all the time in the word whether he wanted it or not. The people who he had left behind and those he had met in a time he never would have lived to see otherwise. Granted, he did have more connections now, but he would never forget those who he had lived alongside long ago.

Shaking his head as if to physically remove the thoughts from his head, Steve snapped back into reality: waiting in line for his order to be called at the Shawarma joint where they had eaten earlier in the week. Right after winning the battle in New York and before Thor and Loki returned to Asgard. The food had been good, but hardly warranting the next three times they had gotten it in that one week alone, not including the batch he was in line for. Everyone had taken to the food with gusto; Steve thought it might have something to do with the memories of victory that accompanied that first time they had all tried it.

The place was your average hole in the wall place; just enough space for two tables for eating in, and space for a line to form for the much larger number of people who would order take out. The place had become a bit of a hotspot for Avengers fans to come since a bystander had gotten footage of the group eating there for the first time. People would actually just keep ordering food in order to keep a table in hopes of spotting one of the team.

_Ding!_ "Order up!"

Steve snapped to attention, realizing that it was finally his turn to get food and leave. He wasn't an impatient man, but two hours was a little excessive to wait in line for some vegetables and meat on a pita: an over glorified sandwich at best.

"Thanks. Keep the change," he quickly spoke as he slid a few bills toward the cashier. Taking the large paper bag in one arm, he rushed to the door and pushed it open, quickly exiting to the street. On the way he held it for a woman who looked quite disappointed in the fact that he was leaving, but he hastened his pace and got down the street before she could get a word out.

The restaurant was a several block walk from his destination, the Stark Tower, but he felt the need to get out and about as much as he could in hopes of acclimatizing to the foreign time.

The Stark Tower was an odd place for the group, at least those left on Earth, to eat dinner at. On one hand, it boasted excellent views (or so he had heard, he hadn't gotten around to visiting before), state of the art technology and a liquor supply larger than what you'd find in most night clubs. But on the other hand, it had been the hub of the destruction that had gone down a week prior. The portal had been opened up from that very roof and Loki had used it as his temporary- no scratch that- _very_ temporary headquarters during the final phase of his world domination scheme.

His brisk pace brought him to Stark Tower much sooner than he had intended, but there was no turning back now. Taking a deep breath to steady himself, he pulled one of the large glass doors and entered the silent lobby. His footsteps echoed on the smooth, marble floor. He made a beeline straight towards the elevator since there was no staff manning the desk; it was after 6pm.

He pushed the button, and tapped his foot while waiting for the elevator to arrive to carry him up to the 20th floor. Normally they would have eaten on the 30th, but that one had been nearly destroyed in the aftermath of the grandiose battle.

With a ding, the elevator opened its doors and Steve stepped in, still hauling the food in his left arm. The doors closed with a nearly inaudible _swoosh_. Enjoying the silence, Steve reached forward to touch the 20th floor button when a voice with an accent spoke up out of nowhere.

"Allow me Mister Rodgers. Mister Stark is awaiting you on the 20th floor." Steve jumped at the intrusion of his happy quiet moment and looked around frantically for its source. There was no one else in the elevator, though. In mild panic, Steve hit the 15th floor button in order to get out of the eerie metal box.

"Mister Stark is on the 20th floor and you have not been granted access to that level of the building. I will proceed to bring you to the correct floor," the voice carried a certain tone of control, but it also had a metallic ring to it as well. There was no clear source around him, and Steve quickly began to wonder if he were just hearing voices.

Refusing to answer the voices in his head to avoid further insanity, Steve practically bolted when the doors opened and the voice stated that he had reached his destination. Practically running down the hall, as fast as he could without dropping the food, he looked around in slight panic for the appropriate door.

Spotting one that was slightly ajar, he ran inside. Inside, a rather surprised group of Avengers looked up from what they were doing to see Steve in full on panic mode in the door way. Tony was the first to get up and grab the bag of food from Steve.

"Took you long enough, Rodgers," was all he had to say as he rooted through the bag for his order, before tossing it to Clint so he could follow suit.

"Mister Stark, Steve Rodgers has arrived." The voice came through loud and clear and Steve flinched, looking around to see if any of his companions had heard it too.

"Thank you Jarvis, I got that. Steve, what on Earth are you doing still in the doorway?" Tony's tone now had an edge of humor to it.

"You can hear that too?" Shock could be clearly heard when Steve spoke.

"Yes of course I can, that's Jarvis, he runs the Tower. He's a computer." Tony's face had split into a full on grin now, realizing that Steve had thought the voice was in his head.

Suddenly, he felt old. Technology would be the end of him.


End file.
